The Outdoor Ad Industry Wants You To Know It Cares In New Campaign

The out-of-home (OOH) industry is launching a new awareness campaign across its own national inventory, which highlights the work it does in funding building infrastructure and services and supporting charitable causes – activity that amounts to $1 in $5 of all OOH revenue being donated.

“It is a medium that is integrated into our cities, and we take that responsibility very seriously. The industry has worked in partnership with cities to fund, build and facilitate amenities and infrastructure. We want to continue to raise awareness about what we do ’behind the signs’.”

The campaign headline ‘This Ad’ raises awareness about the fact that outdoor supports charities like Australian Red Cross (‘This ad gives blood’) and MS (‘This ad loves men in Lycra’).

Jan Staunton, group manager of marketing and communications for MS said, “The support we receive from the Outdoor industry has been invaluable. As a charity, we rely on the generous support of our media partners to be able to effectively promote our events to raise valuable funds for people living with multiple sclerosis.

“The impact of a bus wrap, large outdoor format, or shopping centre advertising, has been nothing short of amazing! Time after time, they help us reach our target market.”

The campaign also highlights the fact the outdoor industry subsidises public amenities (‘This ad built this bus shelter’) and some surprising lesser known initiatives such as building footbridges and contributing to council fees and Superannuation funds. It also spearheads initiatives like National Missing Persons Week, a partnership between the Australian Federal Police and OMA members.

“It’s not as widely known that outdoor advertising is so deeply involved in these activities, so we want to be more pointed in our messaging about what we do,” said Moldrich.

The campaign launched on 12 July across OMA member inventory nationwide including Adshel, APN Outdoor, Bishopp, Executive Channel Network, goa, iOM, JCDecaux, Metrospace, oOh! Media, Paradise Outdoor Advertising, TorchMedia, QMS, Tayco and ROVA Media with over 600 ad faces in market throughout July across the ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC, WA and SA. Production support from members Omnigraphics, Cactus Imaging and MMT also contributed to the campaign.

Andrew Varasdi, managing partner of creative agency BANJO, who developed the campaign, said: “We loved the challenge of taking a wonderful message like this to the outdoor medium which gives us such a broad canvas to work with.”

Moldrich continued, “We like that the campaign communicates an important aspect of what we do as an industry across our own channel, while showcasing how a simple and uncomplicated creative message can make an impact.”

Six things you may not know about outdoor advertising:

1) Outdoor advertising subsidises public amenities such as bus shelters, public toilets, kiosks, phone booths, park benches and pedestrian bridges. At last count, there are close to 17,000 pieces of public infrastructure provided by outdoor companies. Outdoor advertising is the only form of advertising that gives back to the community in this way. This contribution is estimated to be over $275 million[1]

2) In 2014 the outdoor industry donated more than $22 million in advertising space to community campaigns.

3) The outdoor industry directly employs around 750 people and the industry as a whole contributes an estimated $250 million GDP each year to the economy.

4) Outdoor works a treat for public health and safety messaging. Government owned sites contribute directly to roads and road safety campaigns. In fact, Government was in the Top 10 advertising categories for outdoor in 2014.

5) Billboards help grow your Super! Property Trusts (the ones who are commonly owned by your Superannuation funds) maximise your nest egg by leasing out billboards on the sides of their buildings to produce income.

6) The public embrace the medium; 75 per cent of people surveyed said that outdoor advertising gives them something to look at when out and about; and a hearty 86 per cent of people agree that outdoor advertising makes brands and products stand out.

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